July 08, 2015

Midsomer Murders Series 16

The 3 DVDs for the 16th Series of Midsomer Murders showed up the other day at the library and I watched that right away. There are 5 episodes and they first started airing in December 2013. Neil Dudgeon is John Barnaby and Fiona Dolman is his wife Sarah Barnaby. She's expecting a baby. Jason Hughes, who played DS Ben Nelson, has left the series. He's been promoted and has moved to Brighton. His replacement is DS Charlie Nelson, who's played by Gwilym Lee. I was sad to see Ben to go and so was John Barnaby. They worked well together and he'll get his new DS in shape right quick.

The Christmas Haunting December 24 2013 DS Nelson's first case is a stabbing, with a big ass sword, during a ghost hunting event at a supposed haunted house in Morton Shallows. Did the ghost do the dead man in? I don't think so. One of my favorite jokes by Jimmy Carr is ghost related.

How do you know if your house is haunted? It isn't.

That Neil and Fiona with Sykes the dog. Sykes is a bit upset that Fiona's pregnant and getting all sorts of attention. He's off his food and the couple are concerned. Don't worry, Fiona will sort that out. I liked the episode, it's set at Christmas and there's snow which is a nice addition to the already interesting locations.

Gwilym Lee was new to me, I hadn't seen any of the other productions he's been in. He does a great job. DS Charlie Nelson is clever but he's still got something to learn. He winds up taking a spare room with police pathologist Dr Kate Wilding, played by Tamzin Malleson, who troubles him with her poor housekeeping.

Let Us Prey January 8 2014 There are a series of murders that mirror the tortures depicted in a recently discovered medieval fresco in a church in Midsomer St Claire. They have some whacky stuff going on in those towns. There's a couple more murders as the village is swept with rain and imminent flooding.

Wild Harvest January 29 2014 There's murder in a fancy restaurant and it wasn't the prices of the entrees. Actually the first murder takes place in the woods, a man is tied to a tree and his chest smeared with truffle oil, then a wild boar comes along and eats him to death. Midsomer just doesn't seem like a good place to raise anything but corpses. The next murder is in the posh restaurant run by a high strung celebrity chef. Hayley Miles guest stars.

The Flying Club February 5 2014 A dead body is dropped in a lake and the clues lead to a flying club. Bernard Cribbins guest stars.

The Killings of Copenhagen February 12 2014 The 100th episode takes DCI Barnaby and DS Nelson to Copenhagen. An English man was poisoned with an empty tin of biscuits mailed to him from his own company. As the detectives dig deeper into his past the release the demons at the biscuit factory and one after another of the employees get offed. And it was all because of a little bit of misinformation in the hands of the murderer. It's kind of sad but Midsomer is filled with sad people.

Neil's holding a copy of the script to the 100th episode. As a special treat the production gets a boost from letting the Midsomer based detectives go to Copenhagen as part of their investigation. They pick some nice places to shoot in. Film, not bodies. There's two Danish actors guesting on the program. That's Ann Eleonora Jørgensen as VPK Birgitte Poulsen on the left and Birgitte Hjort Sørensen as KA Anna Degn on the right. They're the Danish detectives that are working on the case in Copenhagen. Both do a great job. It was a good story and there's the added bonus of having Sarah Barnaby have her baby at the end of the episode. You know who's going to win in a race between getting DCI Barnaby to the hospital on time to see his daughter being born and the baby. I'll give you a clue. Smiles all around.